R-8: STATUS: POSITIVE

Pitch: As the daughter of its two male leaders, 17-year-old Blue’s life revolves around maintaining the safety of her LGBT Compound. When the guards suddenly invade, she finds herself juggling stray bullets, raids, and angry mobs.

First 250 Words:
I was born to a woman who never loved me. I’ve pictured her many times, stumbling into the Children’s Bank with the residue of my afterbirth still clinging to her leg. I can ignore how she turned me over only hours after I was born. It’s the fact that she didn’t bother to give me a name which made me resentful. But no child with big blue eyes stays an orphan forever. Baby 214 was adopted within days. My life was forever changed by my new parents and the name they gave me; Blue Stevens. For five years, we lived happily in our little green house in the Pink District.

Then, they came for us.

If I close my eyes, the events of that night return to me in slow motion. They’re always there, in the back of my mind, ready to make a reappearance. It was the lights that first woke me. They crept along the walls in blues and reds, smashing together to form momentary purples. My little fingers poked through the holes of my crochet blanket. Even at five-years-old, I knew if the sirens started, we’d have to hide in the basement. It would be a pathetic attempt to avoid them. The officers took what they wanted. Three pops and a puff of smoke was all it took to make my little adoptive family disappear forever.

Footsteps trotted up and down the hallway. White light danced against the black darkness of the ceiling as people moved outside bedroom.